Solar energy: potential, parks and schemes

Detail

What solar energy is and how it is captured

• Solar energy is energy that comes from sunlight. It is a non-conventional source: it is renewable, clean and new in large-scale use, unlike coal or oil.
• There are two ways to capture it:

Method	How it works	What it is used for
Photovoltaic (PV) cells	A thin layer (usually silicon) takes in sunlight and turns it directly into electricity	Solar parks, rooftop panels, solar pumps, street lights
Solar thermal technology	Mirrors or dark surfaces take in sunlight and trap its heat	Solar water heaters, crop dryers, solar cookers

Why India has high solar potential

• Cause → process → result:
• India lies mostly in the tropics and sub-tropics. The Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
• The sun stands high in the sky for much of the year, and much of the country has about 300 clear (sunny) days.

• Result: the ground receives strong sunlight on most days, which suits both PV and solar thermal use.

• Western India (Rajasthan, Gujarat) has the highest potential (NCERT Class 12):

• Thar desert skies are dry and cloud-free, with little rain.
• There is a lot of flat, barren and thinly settled land for large parks.

• The Rann of Kutch is a flat salt-marsh with almost no farming.

• Rural use (NCERT Class 10): solar is spreading in rural and remote areas. It reduces the use of firewood and dung cakes as fuel. This saves forests, keeps dung for use as manure, and cuts indoor smoke.

• Exam caution: the Class 12 textbook says solar is "7 per cent more effective than coal or oil". This line has no clear basis, so do not build an answer on it.

Growth of capacity: National Solar Mission to today

• National Solar Mission (NSM), also called the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, began in 2010 under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. Its target was raised to 100 GW by 2022 in 2015.
• Installed solar capacity grew from 2.8 GW (2014) to 164.59 GW (31 July 2026) [3][4].
• Solar capacity stood at 168.04 GW on 31 August 2026 [2]. It is the largest renewable source in India. The split was:

Segment (31.08.2026)	Capacity
Ground-mounted solar plants	123.99 GW
Grid-connected rooftop solar	32.59 GW
Hybrid projects (solar part)	4.83 GW
Off-grid solar	6.63 GW
[2]

• Record additions: India added 44.61 GW of solar in 2025-26, almost double the 23.83 GW added in 2024-25 [3][4]. Total non-fossil additions in 2025-26 were 55.29 GW, the highest in any year [2][3].
• Non-fossil share: non-fossil capacity was 300.50 GW (31 July 2026), more than 54% of total installed capacity [3][4]. The national goal is 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 [2].
• India ranks third in the world in installed renewable energy capacity [5].

Solar parks

• A solar park is a large, planned area where the government gathers land, roads, water and transmission lines (high-voltage power lines) in one place. Developers then build solar plants there "plug-and-play" (they just connect and start).
• 50 solar parks of almost 37.5 GW were sanctioned between 2014 and December 2023. Of this, 10.2 GW had been built by then [6].

Park	Location	Key facts
Bhadla Solar Park	Jodhpur district, Rajasthan (Thar desert)	2,245 MW on about 5,700 ha of barren land; one of the world's largest solar complexes [7]. A SECI auction for Bhadla Phase-III (2017) found a then record-low tariff of ₹2.44 per unit [8]
Pavagada	Tumakuru district, Karnataka	One of India's largest solar parks, on dry, rocky plateau land
Kurnool	Andhra Pradesh	Large solar park in the dry Rayalaseema region
Rewa	Madhya Pradesh	Large solar park; supplies power to bulk buyers in other states
Khavda Renewable Energy Park	Rann of Kutch, Kachchh district, Gujarat (near the Pakistan border)	Hybrid solar-wind park of about 30 GW. About 538 sq km is the area usually quoted. The hybrid park zone near Vighakot village was planned over 72,600 ha [9]. It is being built as the world's largest renewable cluster. NTPC, NHPC, SJVN, NLC, GSECL and Adani are all building parts of it [9][10]

• Hybrid park: one site that produces both solar and wind power.
• The sun shines by day. The wind often blows harder in the evening and in the monsoon.
• Together they give steadier power and make better use of the same transmission lines.

Floating solar

• Floating solar means PV panels fixed on floats on the surface of a reservoir, lake or pond.
• Why it helps:
• Saves land: no farmland or forest is needed.
• Cuts evaporation: the panels shade the water, so less water is lost from the reservoir.

• Better output: the water below keeps the panels cooler, and PV cells work better when cool.

• Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park, on the Narmada River reservoir in Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh:

• It is India's largest floating solar park, with 600 MW planned [11].
• 278 MW was running by January 2025. It is expected to produce more than 4,600 million units over 25 years [11].

• SJVN's 90 MW unit there was commissioned in 2024 [12].

• NTPC Ramagundam, Peddapalli district, Telangana: a large floating solar plant on the reservoir of NTPC's thermal power station.

Distributed solar schemes

• Distributed solar means many small solar units close to where the power is used, such as rooftops and farm pumps, instead of one big park.
• PM-KUSUM (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan, 2019) has three components:

Component	What it does	Progress (30.11.2025)
A	Small grid-connected solar plants on barren or fallow farm land	667.31 MW installed [13]
B	Standalone solar pumps that replace diesel pumps	Over 9.42 lakh pumps [13]
C	Solarising existing pumps that run on grid power	Over 10.99 lakh pumps [13]

• In 2025, more than 13.13 lakh pumps were installed or solarised under B and C, about three times the year before [13].

• PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (launched February 2024, outlay ₹75,021 crore):

• It offers rooftop solar for 1 crore homes, with up to 300 free units a month. The target date is 2027 [14].
• It crossed 10.09 lakh installations on 10 March 2025 [15].
• By 3 December 2025: 53.54 lakh applications had been received, and 19.18 lakh rooftop systems were installed, covering 23.96 lakh households [16].
• Households can get collateral-free loans (no security needed) from 12 public sector banks at 6.75% interest for loans up to ₹2 lakh [17].

Limits and challenges

• Land: large parks need wide land. The best sites in the Thar and Kutch are desert and grassland ecosystems, not "wasteland".
• Great Indian Bustard (GIB): this is a critically endangered large bird that lives in Rajasthan and Gujarat.
• It has poor front vision and flies heavily, so it often hits overhead power lines and dies.
• Since 2021, Supreme Court orders have asked for power lines in GIB habitat to go underground or carry bird diverters.

• Result: tension between building solar quickly and saving the species.

• Imports: India has depended on imported cells and modules, mostly from China. A PLI (Production-Linked Incentive) scheme pays companies extra for each unit they make in India, to build local module manufacturing.

• Storage and grid stability:
• Solar produces power only by day and peaks at noon. Output falls to zero in the evening, just when demand peaks.
• This creates a need for battery storage, pumped-storage hydro and strong transmission lines.
• Without them, the grid must use coal at night, and solar power is sometimes wasted (curtailment: when the grid has to refuse power that could have been generated).

Prelims Hooks

• Bhadla Solar Park: Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, Thar desert. About 2,245 MW on about 5,700 ha.
• Khavda Renewable Energy Park: Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. A hybrid solar-wind park of about 30 GW. It is not in Rajasthan.
• Omkareshwar Floating Solar Park: Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh. India's largest floating solar park, 600 MW planned.
• Place–state pairs: Pavagada – Karnataka, Kurnool – Andhra Pradesh, Rewa – Madhya Pradesh, Ramagundam floating solar – Telangana.
• Photovoltaic = sunlight straight to electricity. Solar thermal = heat for water heaters, crop dryers and cookers.
• National Solar Mission: 2010. Target raised to 100 GW in 2015.
• PM-KUSUM (2019): Component A = plants on barren or fallow land; B = standalone solar pumps; C = solarising grid-connected pumps.
• PM Surya Ghar (Feb 2024): ₹75,021 crore, 1 crore homes, up to 300 free units a month. It is for rooftop solar, not farm pumps.
• Solar capacity was 168.04 GW (31.08.2026). Rooftop was about 32.59 GW of this, second after ground-mounted plants.
• Trap: "Solar is 7% more effective than coal or oil" is an odd textbook line. Do not treat it as an accepted fact.

Mains Points

• Spatial pattern (GS-I): solar parks are clustered in western India (Thar, Rann of Kutch) and on the dry Deccan plateau (Pavagada, Kurnool).
• These areas have high sunlight, many clear days, and cheap flat barren land.

• The result is a "solar belt" far from the big cities that use the power. This makes Green Energy Corridors (dedicated transmission lines for renewable power) essential.

• Energy transition (GS-III): solar grew from 2.8 GW (2014) to over 168 GW (2026), and non-fossil sources now make up over 54% of capacity. This brings the 500 GW (2030) goal within reach.

• Storage, grid balancing and curtailment have now become the main problems, more than building capacity.

• Distributed solar for equity: PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar spread benefits widely.

• Farmers save on diesel and can earn by selling extra power to the grid.
• Homes get lower bills.
• Villages use less firewood and dung, and indoor air is cleaner.

• Floating solar saves land and reservoir water.

• Trade-offs: desert solar threatens the Great Indian Bustard (Supreme Court orders since 2021) and grassland ecosystems. Dependence on imported modules is a risk to supply and security.

• Policy response: route power lines underground in GIB areas, back local manufacturing through the PLI, and build floating solar, rooftop solar and solar on canal tops.